One of the most enduring and widely appealing mediums for entertaining oneself has been the crossword puzzle. Crossword puzzles come in a wide range of sizes and degrees of difficulty, and accordingly, they can be tailored to almost any level of skill or intelligence.
Understandably, the long popularity of crossword puzzles has spawned numerous attempts to provide game equipment which incorporates at least some of the features which make crossword puzzles interesting and entertaining. Undoubtedly, the most successful of these attempts has been the game equipment commercially sold under the trademark SCRABBLE. Although SCRABBLE game equipment can be used to play a very entertaining and popular game, it is not a true crossword puzzle game in which clues or definitions form the basis for generating an interlocking pattern of words.
Other attempts to incorporate some or all of the features of crossword puzzles into game equipment may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,472,514, 3,174,753, 3,152,806, 3,081,088, 2,795,863, 2,749,129, Re 24,409, 2,050,498 and 1,633,445. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,174,753 and 2,749,129, attempts have been made to combine crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. In both of these patents, the apparatus disclosed employs a pre-formed crossword puzzle pattern of spaces and blacked out areas, and the solution to the puzzle is also entered into the spaces. The individual words formed by the crossword puzzle are, however, separated into jigsaw-like pieces that can be fitted together based upon clues contained on the board or the tiles themselves. While being an interesting combination of the features of a jigsaw puzzle and a crossword puzzle, the resultant games tend to diminish the crossword puzzle aspect of the game equipment.
In U.S. Pat. No. Re 24,409, game equipment is disclosed in which pre-formed puzzle patterns are provided and the crossword puzzle is "solved" by a trial and error type of process that is eventually assisted by the use of crossword puzzle skills. The puzzle itself, however, is not solved through the use of definitions or clues.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,472,514, 3,152,806 and 1,633,445 are crossword puzzle game equipment in which there is an array of spaces or areas that are delineated but unnumbered. These puzzle games do not depend upon the use of clues or definitions, with the exception that categories are provided to control play to some degree in U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,806. While definitely word games, they tend to be more like the SCRABBLE word game than a true crossword puzzle. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,806, pre-printed puzzle patterns can also be used as a further constraint on the construction of words in various categories.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,088, 2,795,863 and 2,050,498 each disclose game equipment in which there is an array of columns and rows of unnumbered spaces that form the basis for play of the games. Of these three patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,088 is not directed to the play of a word or puzzle game, but instead is game apparatus for the play of an obstacle type of game.
In both U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,795,863 and 2,050,498, the game equipment is contemplated for use with a crossword puzzle diagram of the type conventionally found in a newspaper, puzzle book or the like. The game equipment includes lettered tiles and numbered tiles or pegs, together with blacked out tiles, that can be positioned over the board. The numbering and puzzle pattern conform to the puzzle as set forth in the newspaper, magazine, etc., and the newspaper clues are used to solve the puzzle. Thus, the game equipment is basically designed to enable the transfer of an existing crossword puzzle to a puzzle board with attendant advantages such as the elimination of the need for erasing. Unfortunately, however, such game equipment also inherently includes an extremely large number of pieces, many of which have to be kept or stored in a sequential order for use with the game equipment.